Finding the Path
by aria986
Summary: How Darcy Lewis becomes an agent and Tony inadvertently plays matchmaker.
1. Chapter 1

"Sir, here is the file on Dr. Foster you requested."

The director took what the agent handed him and frowned when his hand met a second file. "What's the second one?"

"The file on Darcy Lewis, Foster's assistant. I thought you might like it as well."

"Is there anything alarming in it?"

"No, sir."

"Then why the fuck would I care about some assistant?"

* * *

"Rogers! Hey Rogers, slow down." Steve turned the corner, hoping to avoid the abrasive genius. After an incident that had almost cost thousands of lives because the team was too scattered to respond quickly, Fury had firmly requested that they live closer together. He understood the need to keep the team close, and was grateful to Stark for providing a place for the them to live, but that did not mean he wanted to spend any more time around the other man than necessary. He quickened his pace, hoping to make it to the elevators before he got caught.

"Master Stark wishes to discuss an important matter with you, Captain Rogers. If you would remain in your current location, he will join you shortly."

He sighed. "Sure, Jarvis." He generally appreciated Jarvis. The AI was useful in deciphering the constant stream of pop culture references that bombarded him but ultimately Jarvis's loyalties were to Stark; which was annoying because there was not one inch of the tower that Jarvis was not linked to. He tossed a longing glance at the elevators. _So close._

"Please accept my sincere apology for interrupting your escape, sir." At least he was polite about it.

Stark rounded the corner "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"Sorry, I completely missed you yelling at the top of your lungs."

Stark frowned and ignored his quip. "I need a favor. Shield wants Bruce and I to work with Thor's lady friend on her rainbow bridge machine. I'm having a floor renovated into suites for them but until then they need somewhere to stay. Foster and Selvig will take the rooms in Thor's suite, since he's not here to use them, but I need somewhere to stash her assistant."

"There isn't anywhere else you could put him?" Steve did not mind helping people but he valued his privacy. He found living in this age exhausting and his suite was the one place he could relax.

"There isn't a guest room in the penthouse and Bruce is out for obvious reasons. I can't ask Barton and Romanov because they're on a mission. I could just stick Lewis in one of their rooms anyway but I don't think Foster will appreciate me getting her assistant murdered in the middle of the night. That leaves you. It will only be for a week or two"

He sighed, "I guess I can handle a couple of weeks."

"Great! They get in tonight." Stark grinned and headed back the way he came, "try to be... tolerable."

Steve did not like the look on Stark's face as he walked off. "Why do I feel like I'm missing something?"

"Your file says the serum improved your mental capabilities, sir."

Steve winced at the round-about confirmation. Oh well, there was no avoiding it now. "I have a meeting at headquarters today and I plan on spending some time in the gym. I'll be back late. Just let him in and tell him which room to use."

"As you wish, sir."

* * *

When he woke the next morning, he could hear faint music coming from the main room. He lay still for a moment and listened. He liked it. He would have to ask who the group was. He had not explored modern music beyond some of Stark's that Jarvis had played for him. Most of it had been unpleasant. He got out of bed and padded out to the main room. The refrigerator door was open, concealing his temporary roommate. "I like your music," he said.

"I only listen to their early stuff." The door closed to reveal a very curvy girl. Her curly hair tumbled from a messy bun. She wore a t-shirt, sweats that sat low on her hips and white fuzzy slippers shaped like bear claws. "they started sucking after... Holy hunk of hottie, Batman!"

His eyes had stuck on the band of skin peeking out between her shirt and pants before her exclamation brought him back to his senses. "What?" Steve asked half in response to what she had said and half from the shock of finding a female in his apartment. Had Lewis brought his girlfriend with him?

"Batman is a fictional character who used a costume to fight crime. He had a sidekick called Robin who would often express surprise in such a fashion. Examples include 'Holy bill of rights, Batman' and 'Holy, oleo'. Would you like me to upload some episodes for you to watch."

He ignored the AI and asked, "why are you here?"

Her eyes, which had drifted down to his chest, snapped up to his face."I just went where the disembodied voice told me to go."

He remembered the instructions he had given the AI, "but you're a dame... um, girl. Woman!"He winced and shut his mouth before he could embarrass himself further.

The girl quirked her eyebrow at him and looked down the front of her shirt. "So that's what those are! Thanks for clearing that up."

"No, I..." he gritted his teeth and took a breath. _Damn Stark._ "He said your name was Lewis"

"It is. Darcy Lewis." She replied as she moved forward and offered her hand. "I thought you were expecting me?"

He shook the offered hand. "No. Well, yes, I was expecting _someone_, just not...um," he paused, uncertain how to finished that sentence.

"Me?" She nodded solemnly, "I tend to have that effect on people. You like french toast?"

"What?"

"You like that word don't you? French toast. Bread dipped in egg and fried, topped with your choice of fruit and/or syrup."

His stomach growled. He pushed aside his agitation over the situation. There was not anything he could do about it until he talked to Stark and as long as she was offering to feed him... "That sounds really good. You want some help?"

"Hmm?" She was staring at his chest again and he realized he was half-naked.

"Oh! Sorry, I'll go put a shirt on."

"That's probably for the best."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, JARVIS, Nick Fury (c) Marvel_


	2. Chapter 2

Darcy sat at the table and watched in amazement as Steve finished off his third plate of french toast. "I hope that does the trick, because you're out of bread."

He shrugged and ducked his head, "I'm always hungry, my metabolism is really fast."

"I wish I could eat like you and stay that fit." Her eyes drifted over his arms and chest. That t-shirt _really_ did not do enough to cover his muscles. She had almost burnt the first batch because she couldn't pull her eyes away from him. After that, she banished him to the table to play with her iPod. Speaking of, how had no one introduced him to those yet?! After she had explained how to use it, he had settled down and flipped through her music, occasionally asking questions about songs or groups.

"It can get uncomfortable sometimes. This won't even hold me to lunch."

"Yikes! I think I saw some sausage in the freezer. Want me to fry some up for you?"

"You don't have to do that ma'am. I'll just stop somewhere in a few hours and get something."

"Call me ma'am again and we'll have an issue. It's Darcy or whatever variation you like. No ma'ams, no misses." She told him sternly.

"Yes ma'am." he replied with a grin.

She slid her glasses to the end of her nose and gave him her best disapproving librarian stare, "I am not amused, Captain. Aren't soldiers supposed to follow orders?"

"Only from commanding officers."

"Whatever," she waved her hand to dismiss his statement.

"Did someone tell you who I was?" he asked.

"Shield did let us know who our future neighbors were but I would have figured it out anyway."

"How?"

"My dad was in the army, I grew up watching your movies. Also, one of my poli-sci professors was way into you. He offered an entire class on world war II propaganda and guess who was the star?" She chuckled as he ducked his head. The whole shy thing was really cute. She started to gather up the dishes but he took them away from her.

"You cooked, I clean. It's only fair."

"Dude, you are unreal."

"Sorry?"

"Don't be." She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked up at him "It's hot when guys are domestic." He even blushed cute, too. "I'm gonna shower and get dressed. I'm supposed to meet Jane and Eric in lab three to get all the equipment set up. Would you mind giving me directions?"

"I can take you there. I'm going to head upstairs anyway. I need to find Stark."

"He'll be there. He's supposed to help Jane upgrade."

"Good, we can get things settled." The look on his face was grim, she did not envy Tony Stark.

* * *

On the elevator ride, they chatted about the music he had found on her iPod until the doors opened on her new place of employment. The room was filled with crates, some open and half unpacked. Eric was stuffing packing material into a trash bag and glaring at a man kneeling in front of another crate.

"Good God, this stuff is crap." She recognized the man involved in dumping packing paper on the floor and insulting her boss' handiwork as Tony Stark. She took a moment to appreciate the snug fit of his jeans. How did they expect her to focus around all these good-looking, _famous_ guys? Steve motioned her into the lab and followed behind her.

"Don't let Jane hear you say that, she built most of it," she said as she went to stand next to Eric. He was sporting a look that he normally reserved for her on days she was being exceptionally trying. She was impressed. It typically took her most of a day to get that look and Eric could not have been awake for much more than an hour. "Off to a good start, huh?" she asked him. He just shook his head and savagely stuffed a roll of paper into the bag he was holding.

"Someone needs to tell her to stick to astrophysics and leave the engineering to people who can actually solder," the engineer replied.

"You're intent on angering everyone today, aren't you?" Steve asked.

"Steve!" Tony pulled his head out of the crate and smirked. "How are things going with your new roomie?"

"She can't stay with me."

"Darcy!" Eric turned his frown on her.

She was offended. Why did everyone assume she always did something wrong? "Hey, I was on my best behavior!" She pointed at Steve, "I even made you breakfast!"

"She was swell." He assured the older scientist, "she can't stay with me because people will talk."

Someone snorted and said, "I think her virtue is safe with Captain America." Her attention went to the man sitting at one of the desks along the wall with stacks of papers all around him. His salt and pepper curls were a little wild, giving him the look of an eccentric professor. He smiled and nodded at her when he noticed her gaze, then whet back to sorting papers.

"See. No one's worried you'll take advantage of her. Unless you are?" The grin on Stark's face was a little too wide and she started putting the picture together; a picture that was far too familiar. She was being used. Tendrils of ice began to twist through her gut.

"That's not the point and you know it, Stark." Steve moved to loom over the engineer and Tony stood, refusing the be intimidated.

"Putting aside any enjoyment I get out of making you uncomfortable, there really wasn't anywhere better to put her."

"Bullshit." She interrupted. She was not a child anymore, she could stand up for herself now. "I could have stayed on the couch in the suite with Jane and Eric. I offered to."

He looked irritated at her, like a child caught doing something wrong but refusing to be sorry about it. "I wasn't going to let you stay on a couch when there was a perfectly suitable bed available."

"No, you weren't going to let me stay on a couch when you could use me to be an ass hat," she replied hotly as she went back to the elevator and angrily pushed at the button. "Don't worry about it. I'll find somewhere else to stay. I'm sure there's a hotel within walking distance."

"Hold on, this is New York. Stuff is pricier here" Stark skirted around the Captain and came over to her. "I've seen what you get paid, the best you could find is a roach motel that charges by the hour."

"I'd rather deal with crack whores than be a pawn in your pissing contest." She told him as she blocked the door when he tried to follow her onto the elevator and smacked his hand away when he tried to stop the door from closing. "Fuck off, Stark."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Eric Selvig, Bruce Banner (c) Marvel_


	3. Chapter 3

"She wasn't in the room five minutes before you chased her out. That's a record, even for you Stark." Steve said after the doors closed. The man's insensitivity was astounding.

"Not how you saw that playing out, huh, Tony?" Bruce asked without looking up from his piles.

"Not at all," Stark replied. "I just wanted to see Cap squirm a little. Did anyone else think that was an irrational response?"

"She has issues with being used against people." Eric stalked over the genius and shoved the bag of paper into his arms. He pressed the elevator button and settled in to wait for its return. "She's never said anything but I've gotten the impression that her parents' divorce was a nasty one."

"See, now I feel bad," Stark said as he frowned down at the bag in his arms.

"Good. Maybe next time you'll think before you act." Steve told him. Stark frowned at him but held his tongue as he returned to unpacking crates. Steve joined Eric in waiting for the elevator. "We'll get Darcy and move her stuff over to your suite."

"Oh, she won't stay in the tower. I just hope I catch her before she actually checks into a motel with crack whores. I'll help her find somewhere safer to stay."

"She wouldn't actually do anything that dangerous would she?" Steve asked.

"Yes, she would. She's stubborn and proud. She might not even accept the room Stark is building for her now." Eric shook his head. "I feel bad for dragging her into this. Shield didn't give her much of an option in staying with us. I really looked forward to working with Dr. Banner but if I had known what Stark was like I would have advised Jane against accepting this."

Steve glared at the elevator doors, willing them to open. "I didn't mean to cause problems. I just don't think it's right for a single woman to stay with a bachelor."

"If it were anyone but you, Captain, I would be inclined to agree."

"I wish people wouldn't act like I'm a saint. I'm not. I'm a man. I... notice women." He could feel his face heating up and hoped the other man did not see. The smirk Eric threw his way said he did.

* * *

Jarvis informed them that Darcy had left the building, so the two men rode the elevator to the lobby and split up at the doors. Steve strode down the sidewalk scanning the crowd for the distinctive mess of curls. He had gone several blocks when his phone rang. "Hello."

"Master Stark instructed me to track Miss Lewis' cellphone and relay her coördinates to you. She is currently two blocks north from you, heading east. I will call you if her trajectory changes."

"Thanks Jarvis." He started jogging and spotted her as just as she turned a corner. "Darcy!" He called as he raced to the end of the block, dodging people. He called again when he turned the corner. She paused to look back but kept walking when she saw him. To bad he didn't have an AI to stop people where he wanted them. He continued jogging until he caught up to her. "Hey! Hold up."

"What do you want?" She asked without stopping or looking up from her phone.

"Will you stop and talk to me." He grabbed her elbow.

She stopped and jerked her arm away. "Why? I'll find somewhere to stay and be out of your hair. That's what you want, right?"

"Are you mad at me?" He asked, confused.

"Not really, but you're the only one here."

"The best way to deal with Stark is to just ignore him. If you respond, he'll keep going."

"Really, is that what you did?" Her tone was as sharp as her glare.

"It's not right for you to stay with me! Why is no one else bothered by it?" he asked, exasperated.

"Welcome to the 21st century, Cap. Men and women can live together without the world looking down, if it bothers to look at all. Half the roommates I had in college were guys."

"Really?"

"I prefer living with guys, they're more respectful of boundaries. Girls always want to share make-up and clothes. I have four brothers, I know how to deal with guys. Girls, not so much." He knew the feeling. Although, he was strangely at ease with this modern woman, he thought to himself. Once the shock of finding a girl in his room had worn off, he had found interacting with her easy. She was blunt but not as forward as most of the woman he had met since he woke.

"I don't mean anything by it but I'm just not comfortable with it."

"I get it, you're a product of a different time. I'll admit I was nervous when they told me where I was staying. I can be... annoying but I thought it went okay."

"It did." He was eager to reassure her that he hadn't disliked her company. "You have good music and you cook _really_ good food."

"I think you're too easy to impress," she said. Her tone was dry but the tension had eased from her frame and she had a slight smile on her face.

"Please come back to the tower," He asked, gently.

"Yeah... that's not going to happen."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm an over-emotional freak that just threw a fit and completely embarrassed myself."

"Stark is the only one who should feel embarrassed by this." He was getting angry again. He could handle Stark poking fun at him but hurting someone else in the process was unforgivable.

"Cuz the guy that striped at a fashion show to display his designer underwear is going to be embarrassed by being a jerk to some assistant."

"He actually... I should be surprised at that but I'm really not." He was beyond being surprised by anything Stark did anymore. He shook his head to dislodge the image from his mind and continued. "It doesn't change that you shouldn't feel embarrassed. You had every right to be angry."

"You were the butt of the joke. I was just the delivery method."

"Either way, I don't think we should let Stark win by chasing you out of the tower."

"That was the most unsubtle attempt at reverse psychology I have ever heard." She threw back her head and laughed. It was sharp and loud but it was real and he could not help but smile.

"Did it work?"

"I never could say no to a pretty face. Lead on, mon capitan."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Eric Selvig, JARVIS (c) Marvel_


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh, my." Steve said as he stared at the room around him.

"I know, right. I'm not really into the Viking chic thing but it is nice of Stark to try to make Thor feel at home. You can drop my stuff by the couch."

"This is... I can't..." He gave up on trying to find words and moved to put down the bags he was carrying.

"On the bright side, my allergies aren't going crazy so I'm pretty sure these furs are fake."

"That would be a lot of dead animals," he agreed.

"Hey, you wanna watch a movie or something? I'm not going back upstairs until Eric lets me know Stark has cleared out and Jane did most of the driving so he forbid her to get out of bed before ten, so I'm on my own for a while."

"What movie?" He asked, warily. His experience with movies had equaled that of music.

She shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat. I have tons downloaded."

"I'll trust your judgment." He hoped her taste in pictures was as good as her taste in music

"Oh, I could have so much fun with that!" she chuckled. She gestured to the couch. "Pick your corner and I'll fish out my laptop." He settled on the couch and watched with interest as she pulled out a slim device he recognized. He had one on his desk but no one had shown him how to use it yet. She pressed a button and went into the kitchen "Want a drink? I'm not sure what's here but the man in the wall said the kitchen is stocked. Looks like all the staples; milk, oj, grape and apple."

"Milk would be wonderful," he said.

She returned carrying two glasses. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

"Alright, lets see what all I have on here. Most of my movies are stored on a secondary drive." She grabbed her laptop and clicked around. "As much as I would love to throw you into a modern action extravaganza, I'll be nice and play something more your speed."

"I appreciate your restraint," he replied, drily.

"You should," she told him. "Ah, ha! Have you seen the Road to movies?"

"With Crosby and Hope?"

"Yeah, I have all seven."

"They made seven?!" he asked, delighted. "Morocco came out when I was in boot camp but I got to see it when I was on tour. It was definitely my favorite of the three."

She looked at him over her glasses. "You're a Lamour guy aren't you?"

"She has a lovely voice," he grinned.

"Wrapped in a lovely package," she teased. "Road to Utopia it is."

* * *

**Lab finally done. I'm free! Wanna play tour guide?**

Steve looked down at the text on his phone and frowned. He had looked forward to hearing from Darcy again. She spent the last week shut up in the lab helping to get the equipment set up and recalibrated. He had briefly seen her once in that time, during an elevator ride. They had exchanged numbers and a promise to finish the Road movies when she was released from work. As much as he would like to see Darcy again, he had spent the day at headquarters and that always grated on his nerves. He could not stand the thought of being out around people. **Movie?** He suggested instead.

**Been shut up all week, wanna explore. Movie tomorrow?** He sent his agreement and put away his phone. _Making plans with a girl_, he thought, _Bucky would be so proud_. He felt a pang at the thought of his friend. He was going to the gym. He needed to punch something.

Several hours later his phone beeped, startling him. He had lost track of time, it was dark outside. He stepped away from the battered bag and went to grab his phone from the bench. He had a text from Darcy. **NY is AWESOME!**

He smiled and sat down. He was glad she liked it but it was a bittersweet feeling. He had always loved this city, even after his mother had died, and he had been left alone at such a young age. He had roamed every inch of Brooklyn with Bucky. After the invasion, he had visited the graves of his friends to say goodbye to the past and traveled around to see how the world had changed. Since returning to the city, he had not been able to make himself go out. He could handle the changes in the world, but to see it in the streets he had grown up in and the places he had loved would be too much.

He unwrapped his hands and packed up his bag. Time to shower and have dinner. He still had some shading left to do on his current sketch and he wanted to finish before he went to bed.

His phone rang just as he was settling down with his sketchbook.

"Hello," he answered.

"Hey, Steve."

"Darcy? Are you okay?" he did not like the tremor in her voice.

"I'm fine, totally fine. Um... I need a really big favor but you have to swear not to tell Jane or Eric."

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Swear!"

"Alright! I promise, just tell me what's wrong."

"I need you to come and pick me up from the police station."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers (c) Marvel_


	5. Chapter 5

Darcy flicked her gaze to the man sitting on the other end of the bench. He was pierced in every imaginable place, some in places she had not realized it was possible to pierce. Tattoos covered his whole left arm and crept up the side of his neck.

"What are you looking at?" he snapped when he noticed her attention.

"Nothing! Um, Sorry. I like your tats. The dragon one is really cool. I tried to get one my sophomore year. The guy started working and I almost passed out. Pain and I are unmixy. Now I have a spot on my hip that looks like a funny shaped freckle." The guy gave her a weird look and turned away. She blushed and returned to watching the door. It was not long before she was bored again. Just as she was thinking about trying to talk to scary guy again, Steve strode through the doors. She called his name and waved to get his attention.

"Are you okay?" he asked as soon as he reached her side. "What happened?"

She was struck by the concern in his eyes as he took her by the arms and looked her over for injuries. "Aren't you going to ask me what I did?"

He paused and, realizing that he had his hands on her, blushed and pulled away."Why would I do that?"

"People usually tend to assume that I did something."

"Did you do something?"

"Yes and no."

"She isn't in any trouble," one of the officers told him as he joined them. "Here's my card. Someone from the DA's office will contact you about court dates but if you have any questions before then you can give me a call."

"Thanks," she said as she took the offered card.

"You should be proud of her. Not enough people take self-defense seriously enough," the officer told Steve before walking over to scary guy and escorting him to the back.

"Court... will you please tell me what happened!" Steve exclaimed.

"Oh, I got mugged. Almost mugged. They tried to mug me, it didn't end well." She told him.

"Someone tried to hurt you?" He asked, darkly. She did not think it was possible for him to get any larger but he seemed to as he drew himself up. He glowered across the room, eyes flicking over every person in the room as if searching out the guilty party. _Hello, Captain America_ she thought to herself.

"Down boy. They tried and failed, hard." She patted her purse. "I never leave home without my taser. Now could we please go back to the tower before I crash from this adrenaline high?"

* * *

Darcy woke the next morning to noises from the kitchen. She blindly groped for her phone and groaned when she checked the time. Only four hours had passed since she crawled on the couch but her muscles had already stiffened up, complaining about the treatment she had given them after neglecting her exercise for so long. She really needed to find a gym she could practice at. Maybe Steve could recommend one. She grinned at the thought of him. Captain America rode a motorcycle. The thought made her giddy even when she was half asleep and sore as hell. The guy was such a contradiction. Badass with a motorcycle but still a gentleman. He had insisted on escorting her all the way to her front door, urging her to call him if she needed anything. She didn't think guys like that really existed these days, though technically they didn't. He was imported from the 1940's.

She stumbled into the kitchen and slumped into a chair. "I don't think you two understand the concept of a weekend."

"Sorry Darce, we were trying to be quiet." Jane said.

She shrugged, "I'm a light sleeper. So, why are you up at oh-my-god o'clock?"

"Now that the equipment is set up we want to start running tests to see if the arc reactor can power the device I built" Eric told her from behind the paper.

"That can't wait till monday?"

"No point in waiting."

"It's against OSHA policy to work on the weekends. It falls under the cruel and unusual clause."

Jane smiled and sat next to her. "We didn't expect you to join us. Hopefully we'll have lots of notes for you to transcribe on Monday."

"Oh, joy" she said drily. "I'm going back to bed."

The next time she woke it was a much more decent hour. She messed around for a while before showering and getting ready. On a whim, she decided to mix up some cookies to take upstairs to the scientists.

"How goes the mad science?" She asked as she entered the lab. Jane and Eric were on one side looking at pictures of the imprint from the Bifrost. Dr. Banner and Stark were on the other side muttering over a computer screen.

"Pretty good. The first test was promising" Eric told her as she joined them. "I thought it was illegal for you to work on the weekends?"

"I'm not here to work. I'm on a mission of mercy, bringing tasty treats to insane people." She offered them the plate of cookies. "There weren't any chocolate chips so I used the rest of the peanut butter M&Ms from the road trip supplies"

"Yummy." Jane mumbled around a bite of cookie.

Darcy went over to the other pair, keeping Dr. Banner between her and Stark. "Want a cookie Dr. B?"

"Yes, thank you." After he took his cookie she purposefully walked past Stark and sat down at her desk. She turned on her computer and, when she went to grab her mouse, noticed an envelope under it. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands before opening it. Inside was an iTunes gift card. She was about to ask who had left it when she saw Stark looking at her. He tilted his head and quirked an eyebrow at her. She looked at the card, then back at him, carefully weighing the merit of the apology against the insult. She kept her face neutral but pushed the plate of cookies in his direction.

He grinned and bounced out of his chair to grab a cookie. "Oh, that's really good! Now I know why Bruce was making sex sounds."

"I was not!" Bruce glared at Tony in exasperation before turning back to the computer. He kept his face turned away but she was pretty sure he was blushing.

"He so was," Tony told her with a grin. He took another bite of cookie and made a porn worthy moan of his own. "I would hire you to do nothing but make cookies for me all day but I don't think Pepper would like me fat."

"It would be a shame if you lost your girlish figure," She said.

He laughed and perched on the corner of her desk. "Please tell me you have good taste in music."

"I have awesome taste in music, even Captain America liked it."

He groaned, "That does not bode well. He hated my stuff."

"Just wait and see," she told him. "This is nice but you could have just said sorry."

He waved his hand in dismissal, "actions and words."

"I don't think buying forgiveness is quite what they meant by actions."

"Probably not but whatever works. I don't have a 100 percent success rate with it but it still works often enough to merit being my first response."

"Fair enough. Not gonna complain."

"I'm going to get back to work, don't want to make Bruce jealous by paying too much attention to someone else." He winked at her and took another cookie back to his seat.

She snatched a cookie for herself and spun back to her computer. She had a dozen songs she no longer had to wait till payday for. She logged in and applied the gift card to her account. She gaped at the total on her screen, "Holy crap on a cracker!"

* * *

After spending an hour buying up music and still barely putting a dent on her card, she made her way back down to the room. She couldn't wait to start building new playlists. When the doors opened on her floor, there were two people standing outside the door to their suite. One she recognized from New Mexico and the other's red hair was unmistakable.

"Hey, if you're looking for Jane and Eric they're in the lab. In fact, if you're ever looking for them, checking there first is always your best bet," she told them.

"We need to speak to you Miss Lewis. We can talk in your room or you can follow us."

"Here's good." She swallowed her panic and let the agents into the suite. They went into the kitchen, Agent Romanov sat at the table and opened a folder. Agent Barton leaned against the counter behind her. Darcy followed cautiously and sat down across from them. "What's up?"

"Tell us about what happened last night." The female agent's face was like stone.

"How do you know about that? Steve told you, didn't he?"

"Do you honestly believe a police report could be filed and Shield would not be aware?" Romanov asked her. "You are involved in a highly sensitive project. We watch you."

"That's creepy."

"Tell us what happened." Barton ordered her.

"Nothing that hasn't happened to countless New Yorkers. Someone tried to mug me."

"A little more detail, please" Romanov said.

"I went out. Lost track of time. Someone tried to mug me on my way home."

"The report mentioned two witnesses," the redhead prompted.

She sighed and resigned herself to the telling. "I found this little coffee shop that was having an open mike night. This one guy read a really awesome poem while his boyfriend played guitar. I complimented them on their act and we got to talking. It was really late so I couldn't walk back and I complained about having to call a cab. They offered to walk with me since they live close by. We took a shortcut through a park and these two guys were there and they tried to mug us. I tased one and knocked out the other. We called the police and they picked us up. I was too wigged to go home on my own so I asked Steve to come and get me."

"Who recommended the short cut?" Romanov asked.

"They did," she replied, confused.

The two agents shared a look and sighed. "So, you shared personal information with two strangers? Agreed to walk alone at night with them and failed to report an attack?" Romanov asked.

"We called the police!" she protested.

The agent placed her arms on the table and leaned forward. "Miss Lewis, do you understand your situation? Since the attack, there is much more interest in Dr. Foster's research. There is no one else in the world who has come close to the level she has reached and there are parties who would do anything to get a piece of that information. Parties that would not hesitate at kidnapping you for whatever you might remember about the project. What if those two boys were enemy agents sent to lure you to a secluded location so you could be taken without anyone seeing?"

"I didn't... I didn't think about that."

"Obviously." Agent Romanov's face was passive, as was her tone but it didn't lessen the sting of her words. "We did not insist you stay with the project because we thought you would be useful, we did it to keep you close so we could protect you. We can't do that if you foolishly put yourself at risk. Don't stay out late on your own. Don't spend time with strange people and, if something happens, call Shield."

"Right. Yeah, I..." She looked between the two agents. Romanov was unreadable but Barton was frowning lightly but it didn't seem like he was mad at her so she looked at him when she apologized. "I'm sorry. I'll do that."

"Good. We're done here." Romanov snapped the folder shut and went to the door. Barton followed her and Darcy trailed behind the two agents.

Before he pulled the door shut behind him, he turned back and asked "How did you take down that other guy?"

"Oh, um... when I was a freshman in highschool, I had a close call with a date rape. My dad freaked, signed me up a ton of self-defense classes. I've kept up with it." That reminded her. "Hey, I was going to look for a gym. Do I have to run that by you guys first."

"We should check the place out." He confirmed then paused and looked at her. "I can find somewhere for you."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that." He nodded and left. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around the room, feeling out of place for the first time.

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Jane Foster, Eric Selvig, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton (c) Marvel_


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, Steve. We still on for tonight?"

Steve spun around to face the smirking man behind him. Clint was leaning in the doorway to a room that he could have sworn was empty when he passed it. "how do you do that?" He asked.

"Practice. So, we on?"

"I'll have to call it early. I've got plans for dinner."

"Cap got a date?" The other man teased.

Steve ducked his head and grinned. "No, just plans with a new friend."

Clint tilted his head to the side, assessing him."It's good you're finding something to do with your time. You brood too much. We've got enough of that on the team."

"What are you up to, besides stalking me?"

"Waiting for Nat to get out of a mission brief."

"You're not going with her?"

"Nah, I'm grounded till they're sure I've got my head on right." The look on the archer's face was a strange combination of guilt and bitterness. Steve understood the need to make sure there were no lingering effects from the mind control but he also understood the man's need to return to the familiar. The security measures were necessary but they did leave Clint without his usual coping mechanisms.

"I know how you feel." he said. Clint nodded in acknowledgement, accepting that Steve probably was the only one who really did understand.

"Where you going?" Clint asked.

"I have a meeting with agent Neumann."

Clint scoffed. "You're going to like that."

Steve was about to ask him to clarify when Agent Romanov called out to them. "Barton, you ready to go?"

"Yeah," he told her before turning back to Steve. "We're headed back to the tower to handle a security problem, then I'm gonna hit the gym. Meet me there."

"Anything serious?" Steve asked, concerned.

Clint shook his head. "Just someone who needs a protocol review."

"Please, tell me it's Stark." Steve begged.

"Like that would do any good." Clint laughed.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Alright, I'll see you in the gym."

* * *

"Captain Rogers! Please, come in," the agent shook Steve's hand and gestured at the chairs in front of the desk. "Have a seat."

"Thank you, Agent Neumann." he replied and chose a seat.

"I'm told you've asked how you can help the agency."

"Yes, I feel I'm ready for a mission."

"Good! Tell me, have you been following the news about the invasion?"

"Not really." He had not felt the need to watch people speculate, mostly incorrectly, on something he had lived through.

"Obviously the public is not aware of the details of the invasion and the team's part in it. They simply know that we were invaded and that people with extraordinary abilities defended us. Right now the public is grateful but eventually fear will set in and, lacking another target, the agency is worried that it will be directed at the team. Well, not the team specifically but at people with... abilities. There has not been a good precedent set, with Mr. Stark and the last time Dr. Banner was in the city. We want to try to negate that fear by placing a positive figure in public view."

"Hold on," Steve interrupted, a sense of dread was creeping up on him. He sighed and rubbed his face. "I think there has been a miscommunication. I want a mission. A _real_ mission, not... that."

The agent paused, staring at the folder in front of him. "The world has changed since you've been gone."

"I did notice," Steve snapped.

"If the U.S. were to use you in a conflict against another country... it would not be well received on the global stage. In matters of worldwide security, like the invasion, it would be acceptable but not otherwise. We need to be careful with how we use you. The place you could do the most good is in the public eye. If you'll look at this schedule, we've planned a series of interviews and public appearances."

"I'm not going to do any interviews." He stood and glared at the agent. "I'm not doing any public appearances. I'm a soldier, not a dancing monkey!"

* * *

Steve rushed to finish his shower and get dressed. After he stormed from his meeting, he had returned to the tower and met Clint in the gym. The two men had proceeded to take out their frustrations on various pieces of equipment before sparing with each other. He had gotten caught up and lost track of time. He just finished pulling on his shirt when he heard the knock at his door and hurried from the bedroom to answer it.

Steve spared a moment to survey his apartment and winced. Everything in the room was pre-furnished by Ms. Potts. It was all tasteful but besides the furniture and functional items like the television, she had left the rooms bare. She had not wanted to interfere with their decorative tastes but he had not added anything. The only personal items he had were his clothes and art supplies. He pushed aside the embarrassment. He was not sure why he was feeling this way now, when she has already seen the apartment. He pulled open the door.

"Hey, Darcy."

"Sup." She returned the greeting with a smile but it did not reach her eyes. She handed him a bag "I thought ice cream would be good so I brought some."

"Ice cream is always good. I had Jarvis order pizza, it will be here soon. I hope that's okay" he asked anxiously.

She shrugged. "I'm easy." She jiggled a black bag at him. "If you let me at the tv I can get my laptop hooked up and we can watch the movie on a real screen."

"Really? That's neat! Um, let me get you a drink and I'll keep out of your way. What would you like?"

"Whatever you're having is fine."

When he came out of the kitchen with two bottles of root beer, she was kneeling in front of the tv, unpacking her bah. He sat the bottles on the coffee table and settled on the couch to watch her. He really wanted to ask her to show him what she was doing but he always felt a bit foolish asking people to explain things to him. He also got the sense that she was not in a good mood and he did not think he could handle anyone being condescending in his current mood. So, he contented himself with watching and collecting the pizza's when Jarvis informed him that they had arrived.

They plated some pizza and started the movie. He had trouble enjoying the film although watching Bing Crosby sing with the Andrew's sisters did manage to break his melancholy for a bit. He noticed that Darcy merely picked at her food and seemed lost in thought. Once the movie was over they both stared at the screen.

"I think movies are more fun when you're in a better mood." He said.

She sighed, "I'm sorry. I've been crap company."

"No worse than me. Are you upset about last night?"

"No. Well, yes but no." She winced, "How's that for coherent?"

"Not very," He admitted. "I'll help if I can."

"That's nice but you can't. I just found out that the only reason I'm here is because they don't think I can take care of myself. Probably don't trust me to keep my mouth shut, either."

"I'm sorry."

"I just thought this was my chance to... well, not make a difference but help someone to make a difference but... it's fine. Whatever." She looked at him, "What's got you down Capitan Blue?"

"Shield wants me to do something that... I don't agree with."

She hummed in sympathy. "There's only one thing to do with this much angst."

"What's that?"

"Drown our sorrows in ice cream."

* * *

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov (c) Marvel_


	7. Chapter 7

Darcy woke Sunday morning and joined Eric and Jane in the kitchen.

"Seriously?" she asked. "It's the weekend!"

"Good morning, Darcy." Eric said from behind his paper.

Jane merely smiled and handed her a plate. "At least we made pancakes."

Darcy accepted the plate and poured syrup on it. "You're still weird," she told them.

After the two scientists left, she puttered around, flipping through channels on the tv and sites on the web. Nothing caught her interest and she ended up slumped on the couch staring at the ceiling, contemplating her situation. _Choices, choices_. She could leave to find a crappy job on her own merits, and possibly be kidnapped and tortured, or she could stay with the amazingly well-paying job that sucked out all her dignity and self-esteem.

"F my life." She was so lost in her misery that she jumped and almost fell off the couch when someone knocked on the door. "Jeez Louise!" She scrambled around the couch to the door, yanking it open. It was Agent Barton. She stepped back and eyed him warily. "Why are you here? You can't crank at me anymore, I didn't do anything. I haven't even left the building."

He merely looked at her, unimpressed with her rant. "You said you wanted a gym. Figured I'd show you ours."

"Oh, sorry. Um, gimme a sec to change." She grabbed some workout appropriate clothes from her bag and dashed to the bathroom. After she changed, she followed him down the hall and to the elevators. He pressed the floor button and placed his hand on the scanner for identification. "I didn't know there was a gym here."

"Stark keeps it for the team. It's not much, mostly set up for weights and boxing. definitely a guy's gym but, if it will work for you, I'll get him to give you clearance."

"Thanks. I don't need much, just somewhere to practice my forms." They leaned against opposite sides of the elevator, an awkward silence looming between them until the doors opened.

He gestured her through the doors and waved his arm. "What do you think?"

He was right about it being a guy's gym. Other than a couple of treadmills there was nothing but weights and punching bags. One end of the room was dominated by a boxing ring with enough space between it and the equipment to lay out the stack of mats piled against the wall. It reminded her of the gym she went to with her family. The only difference from the other male oriented gyms she had been to was the lack of grunge. This place looked as bright and shiny as the trendy chain gym she had gone to in college.

"It's nice, doesn't look like it gets used very much."

"Stark keeps the place pristine. Steve and I are in here most every day. Nat stops by occasionally but she mostly uses the facilities at headquarters. Stark likes to pretend he's a boxer every once in a while but mostly it's just me'n Steve."

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?"

"It's locked down so we don't have to worry about people who aren't in the know about the avengers accidentally stumbling in here and seeing Steve benching half a ton. Since you already know about us, it doesn't matter."

"This will work great. Thanks for inviting me."

"You don't look too thrilled." He led her over to table along the wall and handed her a sweat towel.

"Sorry." She told him as she took the offered towel. "I'm just starting to feel a bit like a Disney princess."

"What?" He asked, half chuckling in amusement.

"You know, locked in the tower."

"It's not that you _can't_ leave, you just need to be safe about it," he reminded her.

"Yeah," she agreed though she knew her tone was quiet and somewhat sullen. She wandered over to a row of weights and trailed her hand over them.

"Natasha was pretty harsh with you. So many of the people that we deal with have... less than normal backgrounds, I think she forgets that it can be overwhelming to someone who isn't used to this life."

"I think forgets is nice speak for doesn't care," she said before she thought about the rudeness of the statement but he spoke before she could apologize.

"Maybe a little of both. She doesn't have a lot of patience with people unless she's working them."

She nodded but didn't take her gaze off the weights until a towel collided with her head. "Hey!"

"That's enough moping." He told her, completely unrepentant. "Warm up and stretch. I want you to show me how you took down that guy"

* * *

_Darcy Lewis, Clint Barton (c) Marvel_


	8. Chapter 8

A few days after his movie night with Darcy, Steve went down to the gym and was startled to see her hopping off one of the treadmills. "Darcy?"

"Hey," she greeted him while pulling her ear buds out. "Clint let me in the club, hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind." He tried not to notice how her shirt clung to her curves and her neck glistened with sweat. "I didn't realize you two knew each other."

"We go way back... sorta. He was one of the agents involved the first time Thor came to visit but we didn't really start talking until a couple of days ago. I wanted a gym to practice in so he showed me this one. I come down after the lab and we work out for a while." She trotted over to the table of towels and grabbed one. While dabbing at her neck and chest she pulled a bottle of water out of the mini fridge. "He's been showing me some wicked moves. I don't really have the upper body strength for some of them but I'm working on it."

He felt a twinge at the thought of her spending so much time with the other man but ignored it. "Is he coming today?"

"Yeah, he had a meeting run late so I thought I get in some cardio before he got here."

"I didn't mean to interrupt. You can go back to what you were doing."

"Uh, no. Thanks though. I prefer to do my jogging without witnesses. I look a little too much like the heroine from a hentai."

"A what?"

"It's a type of animated movie." She smirked and took a long drink.

"Oh, maybe we could watch one sometime?" He wasn't sure why his suggestion would cause her to choke but he felt guilty as she sputtered and coughed into her towel.

"I _really_ don't think you would like them." She told him after she had recovered a bit.

"Okay, I'll trust you." He did trust her but he still intended to ask Jarvis about them later. He wanted to know what would cause her to react like that.

"Oh, Cap. One of these days you're going to regret that." She grinned. "I'm totally going to take advantage of you."

"Not in the gym I hope," someone said. They turned to find Clint grinning at them from the doorway.

"Anywhere I want to," she sassed back at him.

The archer returned her smirk, then looked at him. "Hey, Cap. Missed you the last couple days."

"I've been coming in the mornings. I haven't really been fit company."

"What did I tell you about that brooding?"

Steve just shrugged, "I'm here now."

"Yeah, I'm gonna work with Darce for a while. Then you and I can do some real work."

"Gee, thanks Barton. You really know how to make a girl feel competent."

"You'll get better but only if you get your ass to the mat and let me kick it." Steve really wanted to reprimand Clint for using that kind of language around Darcy but he held back. She didn't seem bothered by it, quite the opposite. She made a face and stuck out her tongue before moving to the middle of the room. She deposited her stuff next to the mats and turned back to them.

"You're right. Someday I'll get better and I'm gonna make you sorry for picking on me."

"Keep dreaming, kid." Clint turned to him. "We usually work for about an hour"

Steve nodded and the other man joined her on the mats. He took his bag over to one of the punching bags and proceeded to wrap his knuckles. When he picked his position, he tried to tell himself it wasn't because he could covertly watch the other pair through one of the mirrors on the wall. He quickly threw out the argument when he found he could not take his eyes away from the sight.

It seemed innocent enough. Clint would show her a hold or twist and the two would run through it several times. They worked like that for just over half an hour and he let himself relax and enjoy the rhythm. He took a break to get himself a bottle of water and watch the pair less subtly. Clint was showing her how to use her body weight to twist his arm down and around behind his back. He winced in sympathy when she twisted just a little too far one time.

"Oh, God! I'm sorry!"

"It's fine." Clint told her as he gently rotated his arm. "You can't be sorry about hurting someone if they're attacking you."

"But you're not attacking me."

Clint's face went dark. "I could." Steve knew where the archer had gone but he didn't know how much Darcy knew about what had happened. He was about to interrupt when Stark walked in with his driver. Both men were dressed in work out clothes.

"Barton, are you letting yourself get beat up by a girl?"

The genius succeeded in pulling Clint from his thoughts. "Of course. I like it when girls beat me."

"aaand I'm not sorry for hurting you anymore. In fact, let me do it again."

"Might not be the best idea, if he likes it." Stark told her.

"Hmm, you're right. You hurt him for me."

"How about nobody hurts me and we get back to work?"

The genius smirked. "Of course. My compliments on going straight for the goods."

"How about you stop talking about m'goods or you won't be getting any of the next batch... the baked ones, that is." Steve could tell from the chuckles from the men and Darcy's blush that there was a whole level to that conversation he missed. He wasn't sure how to intervene without making the situation more awkward. Fortunately, Darcy knew how to stand up for herself. "Alright, Alright. Get gone Chuckles, you're interrupting my ass-kicking lesson."

"Alright Happy, lets leave them to their... ass kicking. Hey, Cap." Steve nodded in greeting as the two men walked to the other side of the gym and climbed into the ring. Steve drained his bottle and returned to his bag.

"Time to spar."

"Aw, man."

"Come on Darce. Baddies aren't going to come at you slow and organized. The only way to learn is to face the chaos."

"I think you just like beating up on me. AH!" Steve jumped and spun to see Clint pinning Darcy to the mat. "Son of a biscuit!"

"Don't let your guard down. Try it again."

Steve lost track of the time as he watched the two wrestling on the mat. Over and over Clint would pin her to the ground. Several times she almost broke away but he would pull her back in. Steve's world narrowed to the view in the mirror and the bag he was pummeling. During one twist, Darcy's shirt got pulled up and Clint slid his hand down and gripped the bare flesh of her waist. Steve's head throbbed and he threw a hard punch, part of him imagining it was the archer in front of him. His view of the two was shattered as the bag crashed into the wall. The shards of the mirror rained down as he turned to face the others. Everyone was starring at him.

Darcy's eyes were wide as she covered her mouth with her hands. "That was freaking awesome!"

* * *

Later that evening, Steve sat in his apartment and stared down at his sketchbook. The page was as blank as it was when he opened the book almost an hour ago. He kept running through the scenes from the gym in his mind, trying to understand his reaction. He was horrified at his loss of control. He had apologized but Stark had just brushed it off and made a snarky comment about captain proofing the gym. Steve was just thankful he didn't seem to notice the cause. Clint however...

Images flashed through his mind. Clint pressing her down on the mat. Darcy's heavy breathing as she twisted in his grasp. Clint putting his hand on that band of skin that peaked between her shirt and pants.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a sharp snap. He dropped the broken pieces of pencil on the coffee table and tossed the sketchbook next to them. "This is ridiculous!"

He had nothing to be jealous of. She had never indicated any interest in him beyond enjoying his company. At least, he didn't think so. He was used to girls either ignoring him or throwing themselves at him. Everything between the two was confusing. Peggy had been the closest to it and even then he hadn't been sure until she hunted him down in that dress. It was times like this that he missed Bucky the most.

He buried his face in his hands and drew in deep shuddering breaths. He felt so lost without his best friend. Bucky would have guided him, told him how to tell if she liked him, how to get her interest and keep it. He wasn't sure what to do. Clint was the closest thing he had to a friend in this time and he couldn't exactly talk to him about this.

The lights flickered briefly and he looked up, puzzled.

"Jarvis, what was that?" When the AI didn't answer he grew alarmed. He jumped up and headed to the elevator. He needed to grab his gear before locating Stark. The lights flickered several more times on his way up and, when he was about halfway to the war room when the elevator stopped.

"Damn!" He pried open the doors and hauled himself out through the slim opening near the top of the elevator. Once he was out he made for the stairs. He used the full extent of his abilities to leap up the levels and in no time he reached the proper floor. He quickly entered the secure room and started pulling on his suit. He was latching his gloves when Clint ran in. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No, I was on my way here when the fucking elevator gave out and I had to climb up the shaft."

"We need to find Stark. We'll check his workshop first, then head for the penthouse." Clint nodded in agreement and followed him out the door. The two climbed as quickly as the archer could but Steve could feel his impatience building at the slow pace. Thankfully, the workshop was not that far over the war room. When they entered they found Stark working frantically at his computer.

"I got hacked," he told them. "I've got Jarvis tracing it but the guy's good. The signal is routed through everywhere. I'm trying to catch the bugs. They're mostly harmless but they're crawling through everything. Get Bruce. I need him."

"I'll go. Help if you can," Steve told Clint since he was the more tech savvy of them.

* * *

"What did they get." Clint asked after the work was done.

"I don't know." Stark shoved a box of tools off a table "Fuck!"

"Did they get onto all your servers?"

"No, just the tower's. All the Avengers' information is on my private server and Jarvis guards that. It's safe. From what I can tell the bugs are pranks; flickering the lights, adding random phrases and dirty pics to documents."

"Someone didn't break through _your_ firewalls to play pranks."

"I know that!" the genius snapped.

Bruce stepped between the two men and they broke off their bickering. "Whatever they got into the bugs covered their tracks. We won't know what they got unless we track them or they use the information."

"How's the tracking going?" Steve asked.

Stark shook his head.

"Alright, we'll tighten up security on the tower. Clint and I can handle that while you two deal with this. If they try anything we need to be ready."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, JARVIS, Bruce Banner (c) Marvel_


	9. Chapter 9

"Darcy, wake up."

Darcy groaned and buried her head under her pillow. "Lemme alone. Getta snooze two more times."

"Alright, we were going to invite you to go out to breakfast with us."

"Out?" Darcy sat up so fast her pillow flew off the couch and hit Jane in the legs. "I'm up!"

Darcy bounced on her toes and willed the elevator to hurry up. Sun, she was going to see gloriously unfiltered sun for the first time in over a week.

"You're eager to get out." Eric commented.

"I love breakfast," She grinned. "Most important meal of the day. Biscuits, eggs, vitamin d, everything that makes life worth living all in one meal."

The two scientists shared a grin over her antics but she didn't care. She was going to see sun! After an unbearably long time the elevator doors opened and she bounded out and headed for the doors. She stopped when she heard Clint calling out to them.

"Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, wait!" He jogged up to them. "I need you all to return to the upper levels with me."

"Why?" Jane asked.

"There was a security breach last night. You all need to stay in the tower until we can determine the extent. Please follow me." Eric and Jane immediately followed him, asking questions. He paused when he noticed she wasn't following. "Darcy?"

After giving the doors a longing glance, she stalked after him. "So much for not being locked in."

* * *

Later that day she sat slumped at her computer, scanning every document in their files. The sensors were definitely not picking up mighty morphing pink flamingoes. She cross checked with the hard copies and corrected the sentence. She scanned a few more paragraphs. Hello, porn. She could not believe what some people did with their pets. She angrily pounded on the delete key. Where was PETA when you needed them.

"Hey, Darce."

"Hmmm?" She looked up at Jane and found both of her and Eric staring at her in concern.

"Why don't you take a long lunch today."

"Yeah, sure. It's not like the porn is going anywhere." She grabbed her satchel and headed back the apartment. She dumped her bag on the couch and went straight for the refrigerator. She surveyed the contents and settled on making BLTs. She pulled out everything she needed and started heating the pan. Just as she was about the add the first slice, the doorbell rang. She replaced the bacon in the package and washed her hands. She figured it was Clint coming to check on her and she wasn't in a rush to answer the door. The bell rang again as she was drying her hands and she finally went to answer the door. It wasn't Clint.

"Hey, Steve. What brings you around."

"Hey," he replied. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a sheepish grin. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I spoke to Clint earlier and he said you were angry about the lockdown."

"Considering it was just a couple of days ago that he was telling me I wasn't locked in the tower, yeah I'm pretty pissed."

"You understand though, right? Why we have to do this?"

"Yeah, I spent all morning dealing with the deadly porn of doom. Hungry?" She left the door open for him and returned to the kitchen.

"I could eat." He followed her and watched as she placed the bacon in the pan. "You know it's not just the porn?"

"I know! I wish people would stop treating me like I'm stupid." She pulled out a knife and started slicing the tomatoes, her movements sharp and savage. She stopped when Steve grabbed her hand.

"How about you let me do that," he said as he took the knife away from her. She shrugged and went to check the bacon.

"A year ago I thought the most excitement I'd have in my life was dealing with handsy politicians. Now I've got giant robots and aliens and superheroes. Every time I think I can get a handle on the situation, somebody changes the rules on me."

"I understand how that feels."

She smiled. "Yeah, I suppose you do. I'll be fine. I just need time to adjust."

"You know that we're here if you need us, right? I...all of us are really fond of you."

"Thanks. I'm kinda fond of you, too." A little too much for her own good. "This bacon is done. You a mayo or miracle whip guy?"

"Um, sure."

"We'll start you off with one of each and you can decide from there." As she put together the sandwiches, she could feel him watching her. "What?"

"You still look really down."

She shrugged. "I was really looking forward to going outside."

"Pack these up, I'll take you outside."

She stared at him in shock for a moment, then dashed for the Tupperware. "What about the lockdown?"

"I got it handled, just follow me." They packed up the food and she followed him to the elevator. When the doors opened, he took her by the hand and pulled her through the room past a very startled Tony.

"Um, hi." He said.

"We're borrowing your balcony." Steve told him without stopping.

"Okay." Darcy twisted around to wave at the genius as she was pulled through the doors and out into the sun.

"Oh, wow." She went over to the railing and looked out over the city. It was a little cool this high in the air but the air was fresh and when she turned up her face she could feel the warmth of the sun. "This is amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it." He was grinning at her when she turned around and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Steve Rogers, you are a wonderful man."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, Bruce Banner, Jane Foster, Eric Selvig, JARVIS (c) Marvel_


	10. Chapter 10

Steve shifted in his seat and sighed. He felt uncomfortable going on a mission without his suit and shield. JARVIS had managed to trace the source of the hack to a house in Virginia. Unfortunately, it was in a populated area and going in fully suited would draw too much attention. The team, minus Thor and Natasha, were on a quinjet headed to a nearby base where they would get a car to drive to the location. He shifted again and looked to the front of the jet, where Clint sat with another Shield agent. He thought about asking how much longer the trip would be but he did not want to seem like an impatient child.

"Chill out, Cap. Your twitching is starting to make me nervous. I can only imagine what it's doing to Bruce," Stark said from his spot next to Dr. Banner on the other side of the jet. The doctor looked up at his name, rolled his eyes at their bickering and returned to his book.

"Nerves would imply common sense on your part and I would never credit you with that," he shot back. Stark simply grinned at him and kept staring until he had to ask. "What?"

"I'm just wondering if Barton knows he has competition for the lovely Miss Lewis." Steve frowned and leaned back in his seat, resolved to ignore the other man. "I didn't realize you two even spoke, let alone had romantic interludes on other people's balconies."

Steve shifted again, he really did not want Stark nosing in on his business. "She was upset about not being able to leave the tower. I just wanted to cheer her up."

"Right. Normally I would believe that, what with your knight in star-studded armor complex, but I saw your face. That was a smitten face."

"Stark," he warned.

""Don't get all dower, it's cute. You should have seen it, Bruce. He was so excited, he practically had her thrown over his shoulder. Just think, if I hadn't tossed her at you, you wouldn't even have known she was in the building."

"Just leave it alone." He told the other man, using his sternest tone.

Stark straightened in his seat at the tone, his smirk going from teasing to sharp in an instant. "I don't think I will. I'm enjoying that the oh-so-perfect Captain America isn't above moving in on someone else's territory."

"They're not dating," he defended.

"Not yet, but all that wrestling around in the gym is leading somewhere."

"Tony," Bruce interrupted. "Could you not pick a fight right before a mission?"

The engineer sighed. "Only for you Bruce."

"You're _so_ sweet."

"That's me," Stark replied while leaning back in his seat, closing his eyes. "Sweet as can be."

* * *

Steve stewed on the other man's words until Clint informed them that they were landing. He shoved everything aside and resolved to focus on the mission. The drive to the location was tense. He could feel Clint's gaze flicking over him but he stared out the window. When they arrived he double checked the gun and spare clips hidden under his jacket. He vaguely registered Clint doing the same as he turned to face the two in the backseat.

"Banner, Stark you two stay with the vehicle. Barton and I will clear the location. We'll call for you if we run into trouble but hopefully it won't come to that. If we find any tech we'll call you in to take a look."

Stark nodded and pulled his shining silver briefcase off the floor and into his lap. Banner did not respond, he was nervously looking out the windows.

"There's too many people here."

"We'll only call for you if it's absolutely necessary," he reassured the doctor.

Bruce finally nodded. He stopped looking out the windows and leaned back, closing his eyes and taking long, slow breaths.

Steve turned to Clint. "Ready?"

"Ready."

The two men exited the vehicle and made their way down the alley to the other side of the block. They had little difficulty despite the low light. It was just past sunset. The house was located on the opposite side of the street. They paused to survey the street but did not see any movement in the house or anyone on the street that would notice them. It was dark enough that most everyone had gone inside. They casually made their way across the street and to the front door. Steve leaned against the wall next to the door and watched the street as Clint quickly picked the lock. He crossed his arms and slid his hand under his jacket to grasp his gun.

Once Clint swung the door open, Steve took the lead, drawing his gun as soon as he was inside. Clint followed and closed the door. The house was silent. He signaled to Clint and the two men moved swiftly through the house, clearing each room. They found no one.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Steve asked.

"Stark said it was. He knows his tech."

"Yeah," he agreed. They moved back through the house, giving it a more thorough search. looking for any traps or obvious evidence. Again, nothing. Until they reached the kitchen. Laying on the counter was a single manila folder. Steve glanced at the archer before moving to flip open the cover. He knew Clint was swearing loudly next to him, he knew he should tell him to keep it quiet, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything except stare at the contents as anger clouded his vision.

* * *

They returned to the vehicle and the two men waiting anxiously.

"What did you find?" Stark asked.

"No one was there. Shield's sending the back-up team to process the location." Clint told them.

"_What did you find?_" the genius repeated. Steve shoved the folder into his hands and listened to the sharp hiss as he viewed the pictures in it. Bruce and Tony huddled over a holographic display. Steve and Clint sparring in the gym. Tony perched on the corner of Darcy's desk as she smirked up at him. Dr. Foster writing on a white board as Dr. Selvig peered over her shoulder. Clint punching the mirror on his closet door. Steve pulling his motorcycle into the garage with Darcy pressed to his back. Tony sitting on the couch as Pepper straddled him, her shirt open and halfway off.

"Well, we know they got into the security feeds." Starks tone was mild but his face was cold and his knuckles were white with his grip on the papers.

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

_Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton (c) Marvel_


	11. Chapter 11

"I don't think Shield will like you submitting your work to a magazine." Darcy said as she peered over Jane's shoulder as the woman typed.

"Okay," Jane spun around in her chair and moved Darcy out of her space," first, Cosmo is a magazine; I submit work to scholarly journals. Second, this isn't an article. Shield wants a report before we run the first trial."

"You're actually going to make real people read that!" she whistled. "Still feeling miffed about them taking your stuff, huh?"

Jane frowned and looked at her report. "There's nothing wrong with this. They wanted a comprehensive report."

"There's nothing wrong with it if you have a PhD in physics. I'm not sure that's even English. I think it might be demonic, actually. It makes my brain want to crawl out my ears."

Now Jane was glaring. "If you're so concerned about the mental health of Shield lackeys, feel free to make this readable." She stood up and pushed Darcy into her chair. "All the information is there, I'll review it when you're done." She then stalked off to the far side of the lab to stare at the pictures of the bifrost imprint.

Darcy stared at the computer in shock for a moment before looking at Eric. "So..."

He shook his head. "You're on your own. This will be a good experience for you. It's time you learned some of the science."

"Only thing I'm gonna learn is to keep my mouth shut," she grumped. Then she paused, considered her words, and shared a skeptical look with the older man. "Yeah, that's not likely. Science it is."

She struggled through about a quarter of the document before leaning back in her chair and rubbing her head. She had about fifteen browser windows open to various physics sites. She kept having to reference between them just to have a basic understanding of what Jane had written. The only problem was that much of what Jane was working on was new and Darcy could not find references for everything. She needed help but knew that Jane and Eric were out. She looked at the other two people in the lab. Tony and Dr. Banner had worked all day on setting up a platform for the trial run. She had greeted them when she came in and tried to engage them in conversation but gave up after receiving nothing but terse replies.

She should have known better than to try to joke with Jane today. All the science peeps had been tense. Tony was downright snarly and Dr. Banner was avoiding everyone. Eric kept tossing haunted looks at the platform and growing increasingly uncomfortable. Jane worried about him and had finally dragged him off for a long lunch. The other two showed no signs of stopping even though it was getting late for lunch. She spun her chair side to side as she looked at the two men. She needed help and they needed a break, there was obviously a compromise to be had. She spun the chair around and pushed off the desk as hard as she could. She rolled almost halfway across the lab before she needed to start pushing again. She rolled her chair over to where Tony was laying half under the platform and slid off the chair to her knees. She laid her top half on the seat and propped her head on her crossed arms. She used her new vantage point to peer under the platform and watch Tony work.

He ignored her for several minutes before dropping his arms and returning her stare "What?"

She shrugged, "Nothing, just checking out the progress."

"Well, be useful and hand me a wire stripper."

"Sorry, I don't see a stripper. How about a hyperspanner?" He gave her an unimpressed look. "Iso-modulator?" Still unimpressed. She sighed and handed him the requested tool.

He returned to work. "So, is the progress all you're checking out?"

Success! She grinned at the first break in the cloud of anger. "Well, I do have a proposition for you and Dr. B."

"You hear that Bruce? She wants to proposition us."

"Is that so?" The other man replied, obviously still distracted by his console.

She waggled her eyebrows at him. "It'll be fun."

He peered at her over his glasses. "I'm more fun than the two of you could handle together."

Her jaw dropped and Tony cackled as he crawled out from under the platform. He sat up and looked at her. "I think that's a challenge. What did you have in mind."

"I was thinking it's been awhile since you've gotten a taste of m'goods. How about we all go down to the apartment and I give you boys something to eat."

Tony snorted when Dr. Banner blushed and rubbed his brows. "What do you get out of it?"

Her saucy grin turned a little sheepish, "A tutoring session."

* * *

Two hours later she strolled back into the lab with a completed report and two well fed and happy scientists. She presented it to Jane who reviewed it and nodded.

"And all the confusing mathy stuff and graphs are here on another page. Anyone who wants to reference them, can, but it doesn't get in the way for us normies." Darcy pointed out.

"Not what I would have done but it works."

"If I promise to work on my smarting off, will you promise to never make me do that again?" She begged.

Jane smiled, "Deal."

Later that day Darcy was startled from her work by Jane laughing uncontrollably. When questioned, she replied, "That was an e-mail from Shield. They wanted me to tell you that writing the reports is now an official part of your duties."

"Aw, nuts."

* * *

Darcy flowed from one stretch to the next while watching Clint and Steve attempting to pulverize a pair of punching bags. They were so focused, they hadn't even acknowledged her when she walked in. It looked like Tony was going to have to do some more reinforcing on Steve's bag. He was really getting into it and the creaking sounds were getting worse. She worried about what had everyone so upset. Yesterday the science twins had their little temper tantrums and now these two were looking like the gym equipment had insulted their mothers.

"Them too, huh?" She jumped a bit. She had been so focused on the two men, she missed the newly dubbed head of security coming in.

"Hey, Mr. Hogan. The whole wonder team has been on edge the lately. You know anything about it?"

"Nothing specific. They went out a few days ago, something official for Shield. As soon as Tony got back, he promoted me. Told me to go nuts. Sent Pepper back to Malibu, too."

"Bet that made her happy."

"Yeah. If they were living in the same building, he'd be on the couch. He wanted me to go with her but she asked me to keep an eye on him."

"He does seem to need a lot of adult supervision."

He snorted. "You have no idea. He sprained his wrist last night. IUI.

"IUI?"

"Inventing under the influence."

"Nice," she giggled. "Gratz on the job, by the way."

He grinned, "Thanks, I've got so many plans. There are some pretty glaring holes in security around here."

"We all feel safer already. Don't we Bruce?" Tony said as he swaggered into the room with the other scientist at his side. "You get those extra bodyguards for Pep, yet?"

"Looking at a couple of guys I know. Just waiting for background checks to go through." Hogan replied.

"Give their names to Jarvis. He'll do a more thorough job and be quicker, too."

"That's illegal." Bruce pointed out.

"When it comes to her safety I don't really care."

"Damn straight." Hogan agreed. "Jarvis, you can pull their information from my files. They're in the file labeled p-sec."

"Very good, Mr. Hogan. I will begin searching right away."

"Thank, Jarvis." Tony said, while ushering them all over to the boxing ring. "Ready to get to work Happy?"

"Always, sir." He replied as he began to pull on some gloves. "Though I don't know what you plan to do with a bum wrist."

"I'm not playing. Bruce is." Tony said as he tried to get the other man into gloves.

Hogan looked nervous. "Um, what?"

"Apparently he's an excellent ass kicker. Since I'm on the injured list, he's going to demonstrate on you."

"Martial arts, Tony. Not boxing. We don't use gloves." Bruce said.

"Oh." The genius tossed the gloves on the ground and held the ropes so Bruce could climb into the ring. "Nix the gloves, Hap. You call this dirty boxing."

"I'm not so sure about this." Hogan said.

"Don't be a wuss." Tony told him.

"It's okay, Tony. We can hold off until your wrist is better." He played it off well but she could tell that he was a little hurt by the other man's reluctance.

She blew a raspberry and climbed into the ring. "Never send a man to do a woman's job. Come on Dr. B. Let's show off our mad kung fu skills." She whipped through a few showy moves before landing in a crouch with her arm extended. She crooked her fingers in the classic 'bring it' gesture.

Bruce hid his smile behind his hand. "That's not kung fu."

"Mad krav maga does not sound as impressive."

"I suppose not." he admitted.

"What's going on?" Steve asked. She turned around to see both Steve and Clint standing next to the ring, frowning.

"I'm about to school Dr. B."

"I don't think this is such a good idea." Clint said.

"Shush. Don't distract me." She turned back to Banner. "Ready?"

He merely pressed a fist to his palm and bowed. She returned his bow and they began circling each other. She dodged a kick and returned with a strike while moving to the other side. He blocked easily and resumed circling her.

"I thought you were going to school me." he said.

"Assessments, Doc." She returned as she darted in with a series of blows.

He backed up while blocking. "That's kind of sloppy. How long has it been since you practiced? Do we need to put you in remedial?" Suddenly he had a hold on her arm and she was spinning into the ropes.

"Holy cow!" She stared at him in shock. "I might be a little out of my league."

"Wrong metaphor." he said and then he was coming at her again.

"Is it too late to go back to kindergarten?" She blocked, barely. "Nap time sounds good." He had a hold of her again and she lashed out instinctively. Her fist connected with his face. He staggered back holding his nose. "I am so sorry! Are you ok?"

"Darcy get out of the ring." Steve ordered.

She turned to look at him and burst out laughing. Both Steve and Clint were up against the ropes, tense and completely focused on Dr. Banner "Oh my god, you should see your faces! Seriously, Dr. B are you ok?"

"Yeah," he responded. "That smarted."

"And you said I was sloppy."

"That was sloppy. Though I suppose I should be thankful." He felt along the bridge of his nose and winced. "If you had done that right, you would have broken my nose."

"This was irresponsible. A lot of people could have gotten hurt." Steve said.

She whipped around and glared at him. "Back off! He knows the risks better than you do and if he thought this was okay, then it was."

Banner interrupted, "He's not wrong. This was supposed to be a controlled exchange. I should have called it off as soon as I realized you were out of practice. "

"Zip it, you!" She replied. "I punched you _in the face_ and you didn't even flash green. You can obviously handle a bit of sparring." The vulnerability on his face made her heart clinch. She would have hugged him except he also looked unconvinced, so she settled for rolling her eyes. "I trust you not to push it but if you all are so worried about it, Steve can get his ass up here and you can be as controlled as you want. My lesson is overdue anyway." She stalked over to where Tony and Happy were holding the ropes for her and climbed out. Tony grabbed her arm as she started to move past him.

"Hey kid. You did good." He gestured to where Steve and Banner were talking. They exchanged a handshake and squared off in the ring. "He needs people that believe in him."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true."

"I know. I've told him the same things but it sounds more believable coming from someone less... outrageous than I am."

She shrugged, "He's a good guy. You all are. I would stick up for any of you."

"Now you're just being sappy. Go hydrate and get your ass kicked some more."

"So much for that moment." She drawled as she left him at the side of the ring. She leaned against the wall as she sipped her bottle of water and watched the others. Steve and Dr. Banner were exchanging carefully controlled blows. Tony was leaning against the ring alternating between talking to Happy and cheering on Dr. Banner. Clint was staring at... Tony's ass? "Oh, my God!" She flushed as everyone turned to stare at her. "Sorry, muscle cramp. M'good."

Clint kept watching her as everyone else turned back, obviously not buying her excuse. She stared back at him with wide eyes. When her gaze flicked between him and Tony, he tensed, finally realizing the reason for her outburst. He shook his head and nodded to the elevator. She grabbed her stuff and followed him. She managed to contain her squealing until the doors closed but then she turned to face him, practically bouncing in excitement. He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in place. "Calm down! It's not that exciting."

"Yes it is! You're gay!"

"Yeah, and I would appreciate it if you didn't go spreading it around."

She frowned. "If you're trying to hide it, you're not doing a very good job. That was distinctly unsneaky ogling."

"Everyone was focused on Steve and Banner and I didn't think you...uh, hm."

"You didn't credit me with basic observational skills." She glared at him as he shrugged sheepishly.

"You seem to have a certain... lack of focus."

"Stop talking now."

"Gladly." He leaned against the wall and stared at the doors.

She met his gaze in the reflection off the glossy metal. "You're not in the closet are you?"

He shook his head. "I'm not hiding it, I just don't advertise it. Straight men don't usually like being around me after they find out. It makes working difficult."

"I hardly think Tony would care about you checking him out. Actually, I'm pretty sure he'd crow about it and it's not like you work that closely with him anyway." Clint broke eye contact with her. Understanding filled her as she examined his face and the tenseness in his shoulders. " But it's not Tony you're worried about is it. It's Steve."

He glared at her. "You're annoyingly perceptive."

"I really don't think he would care."

"You do realize that, in his time, people went to jail for being gay."

"Yeah, I do and I still don't think you're giving him enough credit."

"If he does care, it will split the team. I'm not willing to test it when it might actually mean the end of the world."

She sighed. "That's fair. Sucky, but fair."

"So, you'll keep it to yourself?"

She chewed on her lip for a moment before giving him her widest grin. "Will you be my gay BFF."

"You realize I have other ways of keeping you quiet, right?"

"Not scared of you!" She sang.

"You're such a pain in the ass." He grumped but there was a crinkle around his eyes that gave him away.

"I am _so_ hooking you up with my brother."

* * *

This is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made.

Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Jane Foster, Eric Selvig, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Happy Hogan, JARVIS _(c) Marvel_


	12. Chapter 12

This is a work of fan fiction. No profit is being made.

* * *

Summer was fading; it was still warm but not unbearable. The afternoon was so beautiful Steve decided to walk to headquarters. On the way, he passed a café where people were sitting in the patio, enjoying the weather. Next door was a florist. The window filled with gorgeous plants. Between the leaves, he could see tables of colorful arrangements. Across the street was a park. It wasn't much, just a small plot that looked liked a building had been torn down and never rebuilt. There was a small curving path and a couple of benches. He wished he had his sketchbook. He decided he would stop for lunch in the café on his way back, maybe take his meal across the street and spend some time in the park.

He looked back at the florist shop and grinned. He wondered what Darcy liked. He hadn't seen her since that last training session with Bruce. She had been angry at him and rightfully so. Unfortunately, she had taken off with Clint before he could talk to her again. He had hoped to catch her yesterday but Clint informed him that she would be spending the next few evenings settling into her new apartment. He would get her a plant. Flowers made a good apology but he didn't want to get her something that would die in a week. Happy with his plan of action, he continued on.

Once he arrived, he checked in at the security desk and clipped on a visitor's badge. Agent Hill had requested a meeting, citing a desire to discuss his future with the agency. He was looking forward to finding a purpose. It felt wrong to live off Stark without contributing in some way. The trip to her office was brief and he spent it wondering about his new assignment. He hoped it would not take him away from the tower too often. He had friends and actually looked forward to building a life with them. He knocked on the office door and entered when she called. There was someone else in her office. The agent turned in his chair to look back at Steve. It was Agent Neumann.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll wait outside until you're finished," he said. Please don't let this be it, he begged silently.

"You're not interrupting. We were waiting for you," Agent Hill told him. "Please, have a seat."

He sat in the other empty chair and exchanged a stiff but polite greeting with Agent Neumann.

"I asked for this meeting because I was concerned when Agent Neumann told me you are rejecting his requests for meetings. Tell me why."

He frowned at her tone. "I have already told him that I'm not interested in becoming the public face of SHEILD. I don't see a reason to go to meetings to discuss something I'm not going to do."

"You asked for an assignment?"

"I did."

"We have given you one."

"My skills are of more use in the field," he snapped. "I understand you can't use me against another country but I don't believe there isn't something here I can do."

"We analyzed the different options," Agent Neumann interjected. "This is where you will do the most good."

"I'm sorry but you're just going to have to settle for less."

"Captain," Hill said sternly, "SHEILD has spent a considerable amount of resources on you. We pulled you from the ice..."

"I didn't ask you to do that." He could not believe how she said that like it was something he should be grateful for.

"True," she conceded, "but we crafted you a whole new identity. We clothed you, fed you and gave you a home. We waited patiently for you to adjust."

"I fought," he said quietly.

"One battle and a few skirmishes," she pointed out. "It has been almost six months since you woke and you're only now asking for something to do. What we have asked of you is very simple and something you have done before. The money we invested in you could have been used for surveillance and to combat terrorists but we believed in you. I didn't think you were the sort of person that would be happy with being a welfare case."

That stung. He realized she was trying to manipulate him but guilt still twisted in his gut. It battled his anger and he wasn't sure which would win. He thought back on his time and estimated how much they must have spent. It was a pretty high number. He couldn't help but think back to the depression when people got desperate and some went looking for help from the wrong people. One of their neighbors had been one of them. He had been young then but he remembered the screams of the family when the 'benefactors' came to collect. The father's bones didn't heal right and he could barely walk after. The police looked but they never found their teenage daughter. The familiar rage he felt at injustice burned through him and he held it tight in his mind as he squared his shoulders.

"You're right. I do owe you. However, you should have been upfront about your expectations and given me a choice." He stood, pulled out his wallet and phone and thumped them down on the desk between the two wide-eyed agents. "Send me a list of what you have spent on me and I will repay you as soon as I am able. Don't contact me again."

Agent Hill stood. "You have a duty!"

He interrupted, "I have a duty to protect this county and I will do that but I am not _your_ solider."

* * *

Back at the tower, he leaned against the wall of the elevator and rubbed his head. His anger had sustained him the entire way back but now despair was starting to set in. What was he going to do? He knows how isolated he has been. His experience of the world consisted of SHEILD, his old apartment, the tower and a few motels and diners on the road. He could barely function inside that tiny sphere; he didn't have any clue how he was going to manage on his own, let alone pay them back. He spent most of the ride alternating between anger and shame. He was so internally focused that he was startled by the bell of the elevator. He stood, ready to go back to his room and hide, but the doors did not open to his floor. They opened to one of the laboratory levels and Tony Stark.

Great.

"Heya, Cap."

"Mr. Stark," He returned the greeting as level as he could.

Tony eyed him curiously as he pressed the button for the penthouse. "You feeling okay? You look like Thor beaned you in the head with his hammer."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah," Tony drawled. "People who say that generally aren't. What's up?"

"Nothing. It's personal." Leave it alone. Leave him alone. He wished everyone would just _leave him alone_. Why was it so stuffy in here? He could barely breathe.

Tony opened his mouth but, thankfully, closed it without speaking. Finally the elevator reached his floor. He moved to exit but Tony stepped in his way.

"Listen, I know we don't get along, mostly because you're uptight and I'm an ass, but I'm being genuine. You're a level guy and, for something to shake you up like this, it must be pretty bad. Talk to me and I'll help."

"Help?" he asked. He scoffed low and harsh. "I've had enough _help_. _Help_ out of the ice, _help_ waking up, _help_ dressing, _help_ eating, _help_ living. I never _asked_ for help. I never _asked_ for any of this."

He was startled out of his rant by a loud clang. His chest heaved as he looked at a large dent in the metal wall. He clenched his hands and felt pain shooting up his right arm. He stared at his hand, confused. The knuckles were split, blood dripped slowly down his fingers to the floor. He looked back up at the dent and his refection looked back at him, distorted like a fun house mirror.

The elevator dinged and the doors shut. The floor shifted and they continued rising. He stared at himself in the wall, struggling to comprehend until the doors dinged and opened again. He turned to Tony. The other man's face was blank. "I," he started but stopped when Tony shook his head.

"Come on. I'll get you a drink and a towel for that hand."

"I can't get drunk," he said but followed anyway.

"I bet it still burns, though," Tony replied as he led the way to the bar. Steve sat while Tony went behind the bar and gave him a white towel. He wrapped it around his hand and watched Tony pull out two glasses and a bottle. He was fascinated by the way the light glinted off the dark amber liquid as it poured from the bottle. He took the glass that was slid to him and took a drink. It did burn. It burned all the way down and settled like an ember in the pit of his stomach.

He took a deep breath and the entire story poured out of him. His words snapped from him like sparks, fueled by the warmth in his center. He spoke until his words ran dry and the ember turned to ice. Tony cursed once and lapsed back into silence. Steve stared at the glass in his hand, wondering at its ability pull speech from unwilling mouths.

"Steve," Tony drew his attention. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What?" he asked warily.

"I need you to take a job as my bodyguard."

"I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity! It's important. I sent Pepper back to Malibu. I asked Rhodey to keep an eye on her but he can't be there all the time. Happy won't go back because they don't trust me to be on my own. If you agree to provide adult supervision, he'll go. I _need_ her safe, Steve."

Steve studied the other man's face but saw nothing beyond the intense gaze. He licked his lips and considered the offer. He nodded.

"Good," Tony sighed, his shoulders relaxing. "I'll have HR draw up a contract for you to review. You should get some rest, you'll have a lot of paperwork to go over tomorrow."

Steve set his drink down and rose from his seat. He paused before leaving. "Thanks," he said. When Tony looked about to protest, he quickly clarified. "For the drink."

Tony simply nodded in return. "No problem."


	13. Chapter 13

This is a work of fan fiction. No profit is being made.

* * *

Darcy set a stack of stack of napkins and silverware next the plates on the counter. The casserole dishes were in the oven, the salad prepped and waiting in the fridge. She just needed to finish the rolls. She pulled the dough she had made earlier that day out of the fridge and started forming rolls and lining them on a baking sheet. She was about halfway through when the doorbell rang. She rinsed her hands and went to answer the door. She pulled it open and jerked back when she got a face full of leaves.

"Sorry about that," Steve said.

"That's okay," she chuckled. His cheeks were an adorable shade of pink. "What's this?"

"Jarvis informed me that it's customary to bring a gift to a housewarming party. It's a Philodendron. I thought you might like it. The florist said it's real easy to take care of."

"Thanks," she said as she took the plant. She stroked one of the heart-shaped leaves as she looked around, trying to decided where best to put it. The dining table would be good. "You want a drink?"

He trailed behind her as she dropped off the plant and went back to the kitchen. "Do you have root beer?"

She smiled and pulled one from the fridge. "Got it just for you."

He smiled back. "Thanks. You need any help? That's why I'm early."

"Nope, just have to get these in the oven and it's all done. You can keep me company, though." She went back to forming rolls. "Anything happen while I've been getting reacquainted with my stuff?"

There was a short pause before he answered. "Oh, nothing really important. Natasha got back from her mission last night."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Clint asked if she could come tonight." And wasn't that going to be a barrel of laughs? Clint swore she was fun to be around but Darcy had her doubts.

"Oh?" There was another pause, something was up.

"Should I have said no?" She grabbed a knife and swiftly cut a cross into each roll.

"No, nothing like that. It's just... SHIELD and I had a bit of a falling out. I'm not sure how they're going to take it. You're really good at that." Ooh, deflection! Must have been some falling out.

"Lots of practice. I worked in my brother's diner while I was in high school. That's where I learned everything I know about cooking."

"You said you had four, right? What do they do?" Steve asked.

"Joseph is the oldest. He married his high school sweetheart and they took over her family diner. She's the one that taught me how to cook. They have three-year old twin boys. Orneriest brats _ever_. Jeff is the second, he's a motocross rider."

"Motocross?"

"Motorcycle racing. It's awesome. I've got some races saved that I haven't watched yet. I'll put it on when these are done. He does freestyle and standard racing." She took the pan of garlic butter that had been warming on the stove and brushed it over the rolls. "Aaron is third. He's doing the following-in-dad's-footsteps thing. He's got two more years in the army then he wants to work with dad at the ranch."

"You're a farm girl?"

"Not at all. When Dad retired from the army he bought a ranch and put in a gun range and a couple of paintball arenas. When Jeff got into motocross he put in a course for him. We get a lot of BMXers too. Its turned into a sort of X-games B&B. " She set aside the remaining butter and put the pan into the oven under the casseroles. She checked the casseroles while she had the oven open. Perfectly timed. They would be done at the same time as the rolls. She closed the door and set a timer.

"And the last one?"

"That's Robbie. He's actually a year younger than me, he's a model. It's disgusting how pretty he is. Come on, I've got one of my brother's freestyle completions recorded."

They took their drinks into the living room and she pulled up the video. She explained the guidelines and told him the names of the various tricks. About fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang again.

"What is that one called?" Steve asked as she got up to answer the door.

"Superman seat grab." She said. She barely had the door half-open before Clint hustled in. Agent Romanov trailed in behind him holding a bright purple sack.

"Tell me the food is ready," he begged. "I could smell it if from the fucking elevators."

"Sorry, ten to fifteen minutes left." she told him. "Drink?"

"Beer if you got it, soda if you don't. Ooh, motocross!" Clint went over to the couch and perched on the back. "Hey, Cap."

Darcy turned to the other woman. "What would you like, Agent Romanov?"

"Call me Natasha, please." She held up the sack. "We brought wine."

"Thanks. Make yourself comfortable." Darcy took the sack and went to the kitchen. She set the bag on the counter and opened one of the bottles of wine. She poured a glass and grabbed a beer to take to the living room.

"Boxing and motocross," Clint said as she handed out the drinks. "Are you sure you're a girl?"

She rolled her eyes and sat next to him. "I don't have to feed you, you know."

"Just try to keep me from it," he dared.

"Her brother races," Steve told him.

Clint leaned forward to examine the screen. "Which one is he? Is he the one you were telling me about the other day?"

"He's on the purple and yellow bike and no, talking about Robbie. My younger brother." She ignored Clint's glare in favor of watching the TV.

"I'll help you with that," Clint said after the timer went off and followed her into the kitchen. "Younger brother, really? I'm not a pedophile."

"Get the salad out of the fridge," She ordered as she opened the oven and pulled out the casseroles. She set them on the waiting trivets and put the pan of rolls on the stove top. "And zip it about my brother; he's old enough to drink."

Clint tsked at her. "I didn't realize you were such an old maid."

"You're feeling sassy today."

"It's a good day. My best friend is home and someone's feeding me real food, doesn't get any better."

She smiled and bumped shoulders with him. After she made sure everything had a serving utensil she handed him a plate and told him to dig in. Then she leaned out the tell the others "Alright, it's soup. We can eat at the table if you want to be civilized but I'd rather sit out here and watch the race."

"Yes!" Clint exclaimed. The next several minutes were a jumble as everyone filled the kitchen, passing each other items and squeezing around to find a clear spot on the counter. It reminded her so much of home she couldn't help but smile. The guys headed back out first and she followed them out with Natasha. Once everyone settled on the couches, the others single mindedly focused on eating.

"You know, I have a theory that superheroes don't know how to feed themselves," she said.

"We know how to feed ourselves, it's just mostly takeout," Clint replied.

"Sometimes we get called out unexpectedly. We can be out for weeks, even months. It's just easier to not keep much on hand," Natasha told her.

"Cleaning out the fridge after a mission is not fun," Clint said with a shudder before taking a big bite out of a roll. "Bit of advice, Cap. Don't buy Tupperware you don't mind throwing away."

Steve winced and flicked a glance up at Natasha before looking back down at his plate. She saw Clint's eyes narrow as he looked between the other two. "What happened?"

Steve sighed. "I had a meeting with Agent Hill a few days ago. I thought it was to discuss mission options but Agent Neumann was there."

"Seriously?" Clint asked.

"What did they want?" Darcy asked.

"They want me to be the public face of the Avengers. They're afraid the public will get scared and turn on us once the shock has worn off." Unfortunately that didn't sound too far off base to her. Tony was the only one out to the public and he was not the most reassuring person. One of the things that her professors constantly told her was that it's always better to control the message. "Apparently I owe the agency for six months of sitting around. So, I should just do whatever they want. I disagreed, so I quit"

"You quit!?" Clint asked.

"Yeah," Steve replied.

"The Agent Hill overstepped her bounds," Natasha said. "If it helps, Director Fury reprimanded her."

"It doesn't matter now," Steve muttered.

"If you come back, you'll have a choice. You were always supposed to have a choice."

"I have a job. I'm going to be Tony's bodyguard." That stunned everyone. Darcy debated on sharing her thoughts with Steve. She felt like she should warn him but she didn't want to shake his confidence in his decisions. He must have read something in her face though, because he looked at her questioningly. "What is it."

She bit her lip and ducked her head as she organized her thoughts. "I don't think they're wrong about how people are going to react."

"You think I should have done what they wanted?" he asked, gravely.

"No!" She rushed to reassure him. "They're total jackasses. I bet you were nicer than they deserved. But they're right about somebody needing to do something before it gets ugly."

"I don't see why it has to be me."

"You're Captain America," Clint said. "You're a national symbol, people will trust you just because of that."

"I've done all that before and I hated it. I want to defend this country but I want to do it in private."

"Steve, there is no way you're going to keep your identity secret," she said.

"Why not? Do you think someone from SHIELD would leak it?" He asked, concerned.

"No one loyal to SHIELD will risk pissing off Fury," Clint said.

"You made movies," She reminded him. "There's posters and trading cards and newsreels from the war. I'd bet everything I own that there's dozens of enterprising journalists out there putting together Captain America documentaries. I'm honestly surprised they haven't played any yet. If you're going to work for Tony, you'll be in the public eye. People are going to figure it out. It's not a matter of if, it's when and how."

Steve looked stunned, "What do I do?"

"You should talk to Tony," Natasha said. "He has a lot of experience with the media. If you're going to work for him, it will affect SI. He'll probably assign you a PR representative to help."

"He's already... I don't want to bother him."

"I bet having Captain America working for him will improve his stocks. I don't think he'll mind. You don't have to make any decisions now. Talk to him first," Darcy said. He nodded and went back to eating, deep in thought. She felt like a jerk, bring something like this up when the evening was supposed to be fun. As she turned back to her plate she thought she saw Natasha staring at her, but when she looked up the other woman was focused on her own meal.

* * *

"So, he quit but he's still going to do exactly what they wanted him to do," Fury said.

"It's probable," Natasha replied.

"Keep an eye on the situation. Good job convincing him, even if you couldn't get him back."

"Actually... I wasn't the one that convinced him."

"Barton?"

"No, Darcy Lewis."

"Who?"

"Foster's assistant. She was very insightful and presented a logical argument in a friendly manner. The Captain easily accepted it, if not happily."

"Hmm, interesting."


End file.
